Process and apparatus for separating ores



June 5, l1934. L, H0Y0|5 1,961,666

IROQESS AND APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING oRES y Filed July 18, 1928 Patentedv June 5, 1,934

UNITED s TArEs PATENT: Iorifice PROCESS AND APPABATU S FOR SEPARATING GRES Lon Hoyois,

Gilly, Belgium Application July 1s, 192s, serial No. 293,691

In Belgium 5 Claims.

The present invention relates to the treatment of materials such as ores, coals and. the'like, and concerns particularly-the treatment of materials containing grains of large sizes.

In prior patents of the same applicant, it has beenproposed to treat ores, coals and like by' subjecting the whole body or mass of material to' a grading by density, by causing said body or mass to circulate as a movable washing bed over a stationary washing bed, after which the said body or mass is divided into categories or grades, and both the worthless products and the valuable products are removed land subsequentlywith or without repeating the above mentioned treatment-the residual mass is in turn divided.

Such treatment was carried out in apparatus comprising, a feeding trough followed by `a grading trough includinga Weir or overflow at the end thereof, in turn followed bya trough provided with adjustable discharge openings, and

` column apparatus intended forthe recovery of las Valuable particles. carried along with more worthless particles.

4When bodies of materials mainly'formed 'of grains of large sizes are to be treated, diiculties are experienced in applying the above mentioned treatment, resulting particularly from the sizes of the grains or pieces of the materials subjected to the treatment. In such cases, the discharge openings have comparatively large areas, so that it is no longer possible to limit to well Adefined grades the products passing out through the said openings.

The object of this invention is to provide af process and apparatus enabling materials in grains or pieces of large sizes to be treated and separated into well dened grades.

f The invention consists-assuming thel mai-kam rials have been graded by carrying them in the form of a movable washing bed on a stationary July 20, 1927 (c1. 20s-1s) that the. inherent Acharacteristics of the said ascending currents are not aiected by the adjustf `able liquid currents vacting Aon the discharge openings.v y'

The invention also consists, in the said apparatus, to Iprovide for suchtan arrangement that the treatment, can be applied without appreciable, or at least useless, consumption of liquid.

,The invention further consists incertain other -less essential features of the process and apparatus more fully .explained in the following complementarydescription, relating to, a particular exampleof the 'application -of the invention lto the treatment of bodies or masses of coalsI composed, for example, of a mixture o f categories or grades from 20 to 80 millimeters.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 isfa diagram. of an Aelementary apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a diagram of the complete apparatus 75 for treating a body or mass of coals as above mentioned.

In Fig. 1, the elementary apparatus comprises an inclined 'trough A followed by a trough A1 in which is arranged. a diverting, partition a1 80 adapted to be moved vertically and .horizontally to enablethe opening II to be adjusted as desired. Beneath the trough A1 is located a column apparatus B the outlet opening O of which is connected to the casing of an elevator N, enabling' 85 e the separated products to be removed without any loss 'of water..` The ascending current in the column B1 is fed and suitably regulated by means of the horizontal current Tl derived from the supply C1 90 fed from the constant level reservoir provided for the apparatus.

Assuming that a body or mass of-raw coals,YV composed of pieces from 20 to 80 millimeters, has been `fed into the upper end of the trough A, a movable washing bed circulating on a stationary bed will be obtained, the heaviest and largest pieces of shale occupying the bottom of the bed, the largest and lightest pieces of coal being at the top of the bed, with, between said two lower-and upper layers, grains of intermediate sizes and densities. ,y

The grading taking place very rapidly, the body Y vor mass is completely graded when' it reaches 105 the trough A1 and certain of the lower layers will pass out through the opening II, the latter being suitably adjustedfor this purpose.

However, since the said opening is of large area, the products forming the/layers over'th'ose just mentioned will have a tendency to escape at the same time, which is not desirable.

In order yto prevent such an escape, at a suitable point'in the apparatus, and for example in a conduit B1, there is provided a water supply C2, controlled by the valve R2, and there is further provided for example at b or b1, a suitable partition the height of which is adjustable as desired. L

Under these conditions, all the water entering the apparatus through the pipes C1 and C2, after lthe balance is obtained in the bottom ofthe elevator, can ow out only through the space left between the partition b or b1 and the diverting plate a1, and through the opening II in the trough A1.' It will be noted that after` having regulated the water supply C1 so as to obtain' in the column B1 the necessary ascending current for proper operation of the apparatus B, one may obtain, by suitably adjusting the height of the partition b or b1 and the water supply.C2, an upward current passing through the opening II and suitable for preventing products that are to be retained in the trough A1 from passing through said opening without any Aaction on the inherent characteristics of the ascending current in the In Fig. 2, which represents a complete apparatus for treating coalsr in pieces from 20 to S0 millimeters, the above described apparatus is shown at B, but completed as explained hereafter` and-combined with another column apparatus B1 approximately similar to the former.

In the trough A1 following the feeding trough A, four diverting partitions are provided, namely: a, a1, a2 and a3, which can be adjusted horizontally and vertically so as to adjust the discharge openings I, II, III and IV as desired. Two column apparatus B and B1 are located beneath the trough A1 and communicate respectively through the openings 0 and O1 with the casings of the elevators N and N1.

Partitions are provided at b, b1|and b, the partitions b and b1 extended up to the correspondingdiverting partitions a1 and a2 Whereas the height of the partition or weir b" can be adjusted as desired.

Waterinlets are provided at C1 and C11 for supplying and regulating the ascending currents in the columns B1 and B11.

At the opening I above the column B3 is located a. box D provided with a water inlet C3 controlled by the valve r3 and adapted to provide for the formation of a liquid screen, through whichpieces or grains of great density rcan pass, across the said opening I. f

The water inlet C2 controlled by the valve R2 is provided as formerly in the column B3.

Under these conditions, the water inlet C1 and C11 being suitably regulated so as to maintain the desired ascending currents in the columns B1 and B11, the rliquid admitted through the inlets C1, C11 `and C2 can discharge only over the partition b and into the trough through the openings I, II, III and IV.

Proper adjustment of the height'of ythe partition b" and of the inlet C2 enables the upward currents flowing through the openings I, II, HI

. and IV into the trough A1 to be regulated at will so that it will be possible to permit or .prevent given grades of products to pass out through the said openings.

' -While owing along the trough A1 the movable bed loses its lower layers through the openings I to IV so that when it reaches the partition a3 it is only composed of pure coal.

The heaviest shales separate out through the opening'I and fall into the elevator N through the column B3 At this opening, to the action of the current owing from C2, is added that of the tangential current coming from the box 'D and forming a very eiective permeable screen,

enabling the quantity and the minimum density of the shalesescaping through the said opening to be regulated very easily. l

The opening II gives passage to a mixture of grains of shales and of coals, received in the apparatus B in which the shales are separated and fall into the elevator N, while the grains of coal areraised towards the top of the apparatus B1. In the apparatus B1, to the mass coming from the apparatus B are. added the products passing through the opening III and composed of coals and shales not separated out through the openings I and II.

The mixture is again divided in this apparatus, the coals being carried by the ascending current flowing in the column B11 and discharged over the partition or weir b so as to meet the coals in the trough A1 beyond the partition a3. f

The opening IV is provided for separating out the last pieces of shales which have missed the other diverting partitions and openings in the apparatus.

The products that are not raised by the current flowing in the column B11 fall into the casing of ,the elevator N1..

The body of material' collecting in the latter is composed mostly of intermediate products with shales and a small amount of coal. It is carried atthe upper end of the trough A1 and the shales contained therein nally pass into the apparatus B and are definitely discharged.

It is to be understood' that modications can be made in the details of the method and apparatus described withoutl departing from their principles.

In the appended claims the term plane communications, defines communications Without appreciable thickness such as obtained by openings in sheet metal as in the bottom of a trough.

I-claimz' f 1. An apparatus for treating bodies of materials such as ores coals and the like, in grains or pieces of large sizes, i. e. froml 20 to 80 millimeters and 125 more, comprising an inclined trough in which the materials are classied into superimposed layers, adjacent boxes suspended to said trough, each box divided into two compartments and the second compartment of each box communicating with the first compartment of the next box, plane large sizes communications between the trough and the first compartment of each box, and the second compartment of the last box communicating with a second receiving trough, water inlet means adapted to cause an independent ascending current in the second compartment of each box, water inlet m yans in the iirst box adapted to cause currents owing towards and through the plane large sizes communications with the trough of treatment in the first and subsequent boxes and to cause water currents Aflowing in succession through the i'lrst and second compartments of the rst bo'x and so on successively through the successive boites, and means to control the water discharge at the outlet of the second compartment of the l st box of the series.

2. In an ap aratus as claimed in claim 1, a vertically disposed passage in the first box of the series, a large sizes communication between the said box and the trough of treatment. just above the said vertical passage zand means to form a liquid screen adapted to extend across the said large sizes communication.

`3. A method for treating bodies of materials such as ores, coal and the like, in grains or pieces of larger sizes, i. e. from 20 to 80 millimeters and more which method consists in grading the materials in superimposed layers by carrying them by means of a liquid carrying current in the form of a movable washing bed iiowing on a stationary washing bed, causing layers of the said movable bed to enter a liquid body by overcoming the action of theascending part of an adjustable liquid current therein which part enters the liquid carrying current, carrying by the remaining part of said adjustable current and in a downward stream the whole of the pieces and grains Ventering said liquid body; in the lower part of said liquid body,

by means of an independently adjustable liquid current, separating and moving away in a separate ascending current the lighter portion of the downward stream of materials and causingsaid separated lighter body lto enter an adjacent liquid body, causing other layers of the movable bed to enter the last named liquid body by overcoming the action o'f the ascending part of the liquid current `discharged from the ascending current therein and which part enters the liquid carrying current, uniting the entering materials; and the materials discharged from the ascending current andI carrying the whole in a downward stream by the remaining part of the liquid current discharged by the ascending current, in the lower part-of the said last named liquid body and by means ofan independently adjustable liquid current, separating the lighter portion of the last named downward stream of materials, carrying away the separated portion in a separate ascending current, and adjusting the flow of said current at the upper portion thereof.

4. In a method as claimed in claim 3, causing the movable bed to pass over an horizontally directed and adjusted screen of liquid whereby the heavier pieces of shals pass through said screen and vertically downwards to be directly eliminated.

5. An apparatus for treating bodies of materials such as ores, coals'and the like in grains or pieces of large sizes', i. e. from 20 to 80 millimeters and more comprising an inclined trough in which the materials are classified into superimposed layers, a box k.suspended to the trough, said box divided into two compartments by a partition depending from the bottom wall of the trough, and the compartments communicating each other at the bottom edge of the partition, large sized communications formed by plane openings in the said bottom wall between the trough and the rst compartment and the second compartment communicating at its upper end with a second receiving trough, water inlet means adapted to cause ascending currents in the second named compartment, and vwater inlet means adjustable independently from the former to cause currents ow'lng towards and through the large sized communications with the trough of treatment and to cause currents flowing downwardly through the iirst and then upwardly through the second compartment, and means to control the water discharge LoN HoYoIs. 

